


Lfen Lied

by reaperlight



Category: Death Note, Death Note (Movies), Death Note: Another Note, Elfen Lied
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Amnesia, Bullying, Character Name In Title, Childhood Friends, Demons, Detectives, Drama, Early in Canon, F/M, Family Drama, Family Secrets, Ghosts, God Complex, Gore, Hallucinations, Horns, Human Experimentation, Hurt/Comfort, I Surrender Suckers, Illness, Insanity, Jealousy, Kink Meme, Little Sisters, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Mercenaries, Mutants, Nightmares, Nudity, Orphans, Pets, Prejudice, Protectiveness, Psychological Trauma, Repressed Memories, Secret Identity, Secrets, Serial Killers, Slash, Superpowers, Telekinesis, Teratophilia, Wordcount: 5.000-10.000, big brother complex, freudian excuse, haunted, rape/noncon references
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-06-11
Updated: 2012-06-11
Packaged: 2017-11-07 11:59:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/430924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reaperlight/pseuds/reaperlight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fusion of Death Note with Elfen Lied. Kira: a powerful mutant that has seen the worst humanity has to offer. L: A detective haunted by a past he can't remember. L's search for Kira is complicated when a ghost from his past returns. LxLight</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Kyrie Eleison

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N:** _This is a Death Note and Elfen Lied fusion fanfic I've started over at DNKink2. (Request: "L as Kouta, Light as Lucy") Crossposted on Deviantart. I do not own either anime/manga (so what are you doing here? Go watch/read them!)_
> 
> _Spoilers for Death Note and Elfen Lied. Naturally there will be violence, gore, and death._
> 
> _Also this is a slashfic and the pairing will be L x Light._

"No Light! _Don't do it!_ " L screamed and then there was blood everywhere as the girl standing next to him literally exploded from the inside out. Her heart fell in L's lap. Her head rolled across the room, coming to a stop face up. Her face was frozen in a permanent look of shock. The warm blood splattered across his face...

A shadowed figure of a young boy lingered in the doorway, face devoid of expression even in the face of such gruesome violence. L trembled in fear and rage under the boys gaze—the child was more terrifying than the bloody scene because L somehow _knew_ that the boy was the cause...

The boy's eyes burned a malevolent red as he whispered "You _liar!_ "

L awoke with a start, and then he was falling out of his desk chair into a tangled heap on the floor.

"Ryuuzaki, is everything alright?" Watari asked over the intercom.

L wiped the cold sweat from his brow. He must have nodded off while he was working... Dammit, this was why he didn't like sleeping! He always had horrific nightmares about the time before he got sick...

"Everything's fine, Watari," L replied in his usual monotone as he righted his chair and crouched on top of it as per usual. Though he didn't show it for fear of worrying his caretaker L was still very shaken up from his nightmare.

"Good because... it's starting..."

L stabbed at the strawberry on his cheesecake in irritation. Had he really nodded off just when he was about to...? L didn't want to admit it but this case was getting to him.

Just something about it seemed to hit home... For one Kira's profile was eerily similar to his own personality... even the crime scenes had a vague sense of familiarity. Of course he didn't believe any of the tabloids that gleefully brought forward the slanderous and rampant crackpot theories that L and Kira are the same person. Watari could testify to the fact that he was NOT Kira. His caretaker watched his every move. He would notice if the criminals he investigated started dying of heart attacks. But it was still unsettling knowing that you shared several personality traits in common with a mass-murderer. L tried to stick with his training and his skills as a profiler but even then, the signature, the personality behind the murders. It was almost as if he knew...

L shook his head to dispel that train of thought. His logic was still being influenced by his nightmare. It had all made sense when he was dreaming but now that he was awake... It was just a nightmare—totally irrational. Really? Exploding people and yelling something about the light? Couldn't his subconscious have come up with something more useful than that? And the details were already fading. L banished his vision of a mad child smirking down at him and nodded his approval to Watari that they may proceed as planned. L then brought up the live-feed on his laptop so he could watch his stand-in.

***

Light Yagami had just been quietly doing his homework when Interpol made their announcement.

"I am Lind L. Tailor. Otherwise known as L."

Light glanced up from his desk to gaze apathetically at the (nice-looking) man with the long, dark hair in the fitted suit that had interrupted the latest episode of Misa-Misa's Happy Sweets (they must be serious about this). It looked like the authorities were finally responding to his... (Light chuckled) handiwork.

"I call out to the mass-murderer known commonly as Kira, the one responsible for over fifty criminal deaths around the world. That's fifty human lives..."

Light scoffed at that. "I've never killed a human," he hissed at the television. He'd only ever killed monsters dressed in human skins...

"You yourself are a hypocritical, vile, and immature criminal," Lind rebuked in his heavy Dixie accent.

"Really? Name-calling? You're the immature one!" Light snapped but then realized what he was doing. He was getting way too worked up about this. Light leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and forced himself to relax even as Lind kept talking. It wouldn't do to fly into a rage. That was dangerous, not to mention stupid for someone with his... condition...

"I will not rest until the person or persons responsible are brought to justice!" Lind continued to rant onscreen. "Kira we will hunt you down. We will find you..."

Light had to stop from rolling his eyes. As if he didn't know what he was getting into from the beginning—well bring it on, assholes. As if they'd ever find him. He was way too smart for them... and even on the off-chance that they did find him somehow... they could never stop him. He was far beyond any mere _human._

"Listen to me, Kira. I have a pretty good idea what your motivation might be and what you hope to achieve but what you're doing right now is evil!"

Evil?

He was Evil?

The word echoed in his skull as memories returned unbidden. Memories he had tried so hard to forget...

It all came crashing down.

 _"EVIL!" "Vile creature!" "Just like an oni!" "Demon." "Monster!" "Devil-child!" "Freak!"_ Sang the memories.

No... no, no, no, NO! That was another life! That wasn't HIM anymore. THEY couldn't hurt him anymore.

And he was _perfect._

Without thinking about it Light closed his eyes tightly, slumped over his desk, and covered his ears, biting back a scream. He could almost feel their filthy hands on him pulling his hair, pulling his horns as they sneered _"Those horns are disgusting!"_

Unconsciously Light's hand went up to his head and felt where the bony tips were still secure, hidden beneath his brown wig.

 _"No one cares about you!" "No one will ever love you." "You're not human!" "He gives me the creeps! He gives no reaction even when you beat him!"_ Sudou had announced as he again put a boot in his ribs beating him within an inch of his life.

Light squeezed his eyes tighter and began softly singing a melancholy song he had heard... _somewhere,_ trying to drown out the noise in his head:

_"Os iusti meditabitur sapientiam, / Et lingua eius loquetur indicium..."_

He wished he could just erase these memories from his mind... because he had had such episodes before and he knew what was coming next...

There was a shriek of pain and he was screaming as they punted his kitten across the classroom. It hit with a sickening thud against the classroom wall.

_"This is great! This is far better than anything we could do to HIM!"_

The vase came down again and again and again. And they laughed. They laughed and laughed as the blood ran across the floorboards...

Light didn't realize he too had begun to laugh insanely as he stared, unseeing at his television.

 _"You know who isn't human?"_ He had snarled at his tormentors. _"YOU KNOW WHO ISN'T HUMAN? IT'S PEOPLE LIKE YOU!"_

Light glanced down at his hands as if he could still see the blood on them... It was the first time he had ever used his powers to kill. That was ten years ago-he had been seven years old at the time.

_"...Kyrie, fons bonitatis / Kyrie, ignis divine, eleison."_

He wasn't evil. He wasn't! _They_ were! They pushed him to this! They were _rotten!_

(Sudou wouldn't be spreading his rot anymore as he was rotting underground!)

Once he cut the rot away no one would ever do anything evil again and then...

And then...

And then everything would be okay.

No, he had no regrets. They were rotten. The rotten deserve to die...

Light breathed in and out trying to compose himself. Meanwhile back in the real world it had been only moments since this L had declared he was "Evil."

How dare he?

"You think I'm evil?" Light said quietly, the calm before the storm as he glared at the man on television beneath his fringe of brown hair. _"I AM JUSTICE! I PROTECT THE INNOCENT AND THOSE WHO FEAR EVIL! I WILL BE THE GOD OF A NEW WORLD THAT EVERYONE DESIRES! ALL THOSE THAT OPPOSE THAT GOD—THEY ARE THE ONE'S WHO ARE TRULY EVIL!"_

Light took a calming breath and closed his eyes as he reached out with his mind. Invisible tendrils writhed from his back along his spine, stretching out further... further. His body remained in his bedroom but the invisible tendrils stretched out and across the city all the way to the news studio... It was like he was groping his way in the dark with invisible hands.

"Inhuman filth!" Light snarled upon sensing his way to where Lind L. Tailor was. "You're just too stupid, L!" It took a while for his vectors to cover the distance and in that time Light had calmed himself a bit and reminded himself that name-calling alone wasn't enough to warrant a death sentence. Otherwise he'd have to off the entire human race. Not to mention practically everyone he knew from his childhood...

Light smiled sickly as he wondered what had become of the others at the orphanage. Maybe they became criminals he punished. Or did they worship Kira?

It didn't matter.

That was another life. He wasn't that weakling anymore.

He was God.

Light was sweating from the exertion of finely manipulating his vectors from across the city—he had already done his judgments for the day which included killing criminals around the world and he was, frankly, damned tired...

Light had just decided he wouldn't be killing this L-guy no matter how he taunted him when he "saw" through his vectors into the room which held Lind L. Tailor. The man looked nervous; his eyes kept shifting to the armed men that were standing just outside the view of the cameras... That's when Light realized that this was a trap and Lind was the bait. Of course the real L wouldn't show himself!

Well, this had just gotten that much more interesting. Light suppressed his bloodlust as he wouldn't be killing anybody at the moment and instead grinned sadistically as he cut a fine line of blood across Lind's cheek with his vectors. The man shrieked in terror and fell out of his seat but Light left him very much alive. Yes it was a trap but since he already had his vectors there he might as well make it worth his effort and scare the shit out of all of them. It's not like they had a prayer of stopping him.

An invisible hand gently caressed Lind's bloodied cheek, becoming partly visible when covered in blood. The military types got Lind out of the way and shot at where the bloodied "hand" was. Light didn't feel a thing. He ignored them in favor of his current task. With his bloodied vector's "fingertips" he carefully traced in perfect kanji on the wall facing the cameras for the whole world to see _"L, did you know oni..."_

Light was interrupted by the loud pounding on his door.

"Hey Light? Why is your door locked?"

"Sayu?" His concentration broken Light's vector's retracted of their own will. He wiped off the blood from his invisible hands long before they stretched back from across town to his bedroom...

"What is it?"

"Can you help me with my homework?" Sayu called from the other side of the door.

"Yeah sure, in a minute!" Light called back. He hastily turned off the TV. He was sure he'd hear all about it tomorrow (and the last thing he wanted was for his little sister to get involved in any of this.)

Because...

Light opened the door to see his sister's smiling face and his heart swam with rarely felt affection for another...

And the memories returned unbidden of a vase coming down, crushing the skull of the little creature he cared for...

Light squeezed his eyes shut and held his face in his hand.

"Onii-san? What's wrong?"

_"If you love something never let it get close to you. They'll just take it away..."_

"Nothing Sayu," Light smiled brightly and deflected to "So how about these quadratic equations? What do you need help with? What are you stuck on?"

Sayu still looked a bit concerned as she replied "I think... all of it."

Light doted on his little sister and helped her with her math homework though he strongly suspected she didn't really _need_ his help.

He would do anything to protect her and his foster parents and make them happy.

That's why he was working to make the world a safer place. He would make sure of it. What happened to his birth family would never happen to the Yagamis.

He was doing it for them.

...And for Lawliet.


	2. The Hunter

"L, did you know oni…?"

 _Is he trying to suggest that oni actually exist?_ L stroked his chin in thought as he sat alone in his darkened hotel room, his scraggly form bathed in the ghostly illumination of the computer screen. _The message seems incomplete. Was that intentional or was he... interrupted?_

L found the whole thing very puzzling. For one why didn't Kira kill Lind nor make any act of retribution after L revealed it was a trap and had taunted him on national television? Was it because as far as he knew Lind wasn't a criminal? But that was surprising, actually. Someone as crazy as this, with the God complex necessary to judge humanity, shouldn't hesitate to kill all that would stand in his way. L couldn't shake the unusual, irritating feeling he was missing something here…

The detective again went over the data he had gleaned so far. Kira was only targeting people whose names and faces had been broadcast in the media and he hadn't gone after criminals whose names were spelled incorrectly meaning either he needed a name and a face to kill… (Was that why Kira had enacted no retribution against him? Because he didn't know what he looked like?) Or was he concealing the full extent of his powers? As revealed by his trap for Kira, not only was Kira in Kanto but he could do more than just kill. What was that they had seen? Some form of telekinesis? Or did Kira have phantoms of some sort at his command? At this stage L couldn't rule anything (however unlikely) out.

All of Kira's victim's died of heart attacks…

If it was a form of telekinesis, Kira apparently had very fine control. L's current theory was that Kira used that telekinetic power to block the main artery causing organ failure, leaving no physical trace behind. Subtle, untraceable—the perfect murder (though it was mere speculation at this point). L couldn't have asked for a more challenging case but that was just the way he liked it…

Meanwhile the window displaying the police taskforce quietly chattered in the background of his laptop. L broke in only once on the police discussion to inform them that the times of death suggested the killer might be a high school student...

Just then a group of strange men in riot gear and guns burst into the police headquarters announcing: "We'll take it from here."

"What is the meaning of this!" demanded the Chief.

"It's a matter of national security," said one of the masked men in riot gear "That's all you need to know. Tell L that his _services_ are no longer required."

L frowned on the other side of the connection. You didn't even have to be a genius to smell a rat here. And as _if_ they could fire him, or chase him off a case he was interested in. L clenched his fist in silent rage. How dare they? He was L, a law unto himself! He was justice and this was his case!

It seemed the Chief shared his sentiments as the soldiers began confiscating and destroying their records and files. L was quick to contact him, before something happened between the Chief and the soldiers, by sending an encrypted message to his phone. In it he argued that their authority obviously trumped a government agency that "doesn't exist" and where the Chief could meet him if the police wanted to continue working the case and to _"Only bring men that are completely dedicated and trustworthy."_

It was a setback but in the long-run it was fortuitous—the police had begun to question him, their lack of trust obvious—but by refusing to back down he will have won their undying loyalty—and that was what mattered. Furthermore since their investigation would no longer be affiliated with the police they no longer had to operate so strictly by the book...

***

_"Unless you're completely committed to fighting against evil we don't need you!"_

The officers pondered the Chief's words as they sat together at the smoke-filled bar. After being so inconsiderately kicked off their own case they had all unanimously decided alcohol was a necessity.

"So what are you going to do?"asked Mogi.

"I'm not sure..." said Ide as he reached for his glass, a note of uncertainty creeping into his voice.

"I still can't believe this! Does this mean that the government has caved in to Kira?" Matsuda raged.

"Keep it down!" Aizawa hissed nervously. It was not a good idea to divulge information about the case, even among drunks. Because you never know who might be listening.

"I'm with the Chief on this all the way!" Matsuda declared.

"Me too," said Ukita.

Aizawa glared sullenly into his glass. "Yeah easy for you to say..."

"Aizawa, you're not—" Matsuda asked in surprise. He had assumed his afro-haired colleague would be with him to the end on this.

"Think about this. If we continue to investigate now we might all lose our jobs. I want to catch him as much as you guys but I have a family to support!"

Ide laid a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry; we'll catch him for you."

"Ide?"

"I've never trusted L but I trust these spooks even less. I want to see this through."

Mogi nodded. "Don't worry, we'll get him."

"That's right! Together we'll catch Kira!" Matsuda parroted with enthusiasm.

The red-haired man in the neighboring booth let out a loud and insane laugh "You fine folks think you're going to catch Kira?" All the cops turned to stare at the eavesdropper, dumbfounded. The man smiled nastily as he lifted his glass to his face looking at the distorted images of the fools before him through the amber-colored liquid in the glass and his own dark shades he wore even though it was dark out and they were inside a bar. "You have no idea what you're up against…"

Aizawa eyed Matsuda worriedly. It was obvious the rookie had had a bit too much to drink and was getting riled up. The last thing they needed was to get into a bar fight with some dumb hick.

"What are you some kind of Kira worshipper?"

The red-head gave a disgusted look "Hell no! You'd think I'd worship one of those bitches?"

 _"What?"_ The man in the shades chuckled a bit at the looks of the officers that ran the gamut of emotions from surprise, annoyance, to barely masked anger.

"I feel so sorry for you losers. Tell you what—Let's exchange information. I'll tell you what I know about Kira. I'll even wave my usual fee in… exchange for anonymity."

The officers exchanged looks. They sincerely doubted the reliability of this alleged witness, but he acted like he knew something and they didn't want to rule anything out.

"Alright."

They'd get him talking and if they needed to they could get his name later…

Mogi took out a notepad to take his statement.

"First would you mind telling us how you came by this… Information?" Aizawa asked skeptically.

"Simple. I'm a mercenary…"

The officers again exchanged looks—what kind of mercenary tells a bunch of cops he's a mercenary? No doubt they could bring him in for something…

"Oh I see… that's why… because of Kira!" Matsuda interrupted.

The mercenary scoffed "It's not Kira I'm concerned about; it's the fine folks that took over your case."

"How did you…?"

" _Shut up,_ Matsuda!" Aizawa scolded as the rookie inadvertently leaked information.

The mercenary laughed again. "But of course they took over your case! They don't want the public, or L discovering their dirty little secrets. They're called the Facility. I used to work for them… and let me tell you this, while I have no love for those bitches the Facility is truly disgusting," informed the career killer.

"Used to?" Ukita prodded.

The mercenary grimaced. "We had a falling out." The man in the shades took a long dreg of his drink before continuing.

"What happened?" Aizawa prompted.

The mercenary who had drunk enough to loosen his tongue informed them all "They wanted to emancipate our contract… as in they wanted to cut my fucking balls off."

"Er… Sorry to hear that," mumbled Mogi. The assembled officers shifted uncomfortably. All things considered it would be counterproductive to mention he wasn't using the word right…

"I think he means emasculate." The resident idiot whispered loudly.

"We know, Matsuda." Aizawa cleared his throat and tried to keep the witness talking "So… about Kira?"

"Right… This Kira… she's a clever girl, obviously fucking with you. As she showed on live TV she can do a lot more than just heart attacks."

"Wait… _girl?_ "

L's very detailed profile seemed to indicate that Kira was a male high school student with a huge ego, a _God-complex_ even, with a very childish concept of right and wrong. That Kira was a student was hard enough to imagine, but the idea that it might be a young girl that was perpetrating the mass killings was even more difficult for the officers to get their heads around… especially Aizawa who had his little daughter at home. The idea that someone like her could be Kira… inconceivable!

When confronted with the looks of skepticism the mercenary assured them. "Your target is a female orphan. You can bet good money on that."

"Are you sure?"

The mercenary shrugged. "Well, pretty damn sure. I've never seen a male, but I heard the doctor-types mention something about different strains of the virus. I suppose it's possible. Oh and they all have an unusual appearance. Hope that helps."

"Unusual?" Mogi repeated.

"Let's just say I'm curious as to how she managed to evade notice let alone capture so far. She should really stand out."

"Like how unusual?" Aizawa asked irritably. He was in no mood for games!

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. But if you see her you'll know… and then you'll die." The mercenary chuckled humorlessly. "Just look at you, your little crew. You're no match for something like her!"

"L thinks that he… she is a genius. Maybe… she learned to hide it?" Ide suggested.

The mercenary scoffed. "It would be pretty hard to hide…"

"Can't you at least tell us what we're looking for?" Aizawa demanded.

"You'll never believe me if I told you."

The man sighed and set down his empty glass and turned to the cops, all business. "Look I don't know much about it. But Kira's power, what you all saw on live TV. It comes from a virus or something. They say it's highly contagious and lethal… or so they say. Don't know how much faith you want to put in the word of those fuckers, you know what I'm sayin'? In any case, they're bitches. Every last one of 'em..."

"Wait, are you saying there's more than one person with Kira's power? There's more than one Kira?" Ukita broke in.

"Oh yeah. It's a whole species. They're called Diclonius." The mercenary paused to let the cops digest that particular piece of information that left them all pale and shaking. "They all have a telekinetic power but as far as I know Kira is the first to use it like this. Most only have a kill-range of only a few meters and if they stretch outside their range it kills them or something. This Kira… must be somethin' else."

Without preamble the man got to his feet.

"Wait, where are you going?" Aizawa demanded.

"To hunt down Kira of course."

"I thought you said you were no longer with that… Facility?"

"I'm not. This is pro bono. I have my reasons. Besides, I've stuck around here long enough. I don't want _them_ finding me."

The officers quickly closed ranks. The last thing they needed was another vigilante out there murdering people and there was a chance that he was telling the truth…

"If you'll come with us…" said Mogi.

"We can protect you…" insisted Aizawa.

" _You?_ Protect _me?_ That's a laugh. No thanks. As is, I stand a better chance of taking her down than you do. I at least know what I'm dealin' with."

"Why don't we work together…?" Matsuda entreated.

"Hmmm let me think about it…" Matsuda shifted awkwardly when the mercenary wandered up to him and patted him drunkenly on the back. "Alright, thought about it. The answer is… fuck no."

Matsuda tried to stop the big mercenary guy from leaving when he brushed passed by tugged on his shoulder… hard. Matsuda yelped as the arm came loose in his hand. The strange man snatched his arm back with his other hand and smacked Matsuda upside the head with it.

"Don't. Touch. Me!" The mercenary snarled.

Matsuda groaned from the floor, a concussion coming on.

The mercenary reattached his prosthetic, cyborg arm. "Yeah, take a good look, assholes. This is what happens when you tangle with a Diclonius," the mercenary answered their unasked question. "Any takers? No, didn't think so." The mercenary audaciously walked right out the door of the bar, calling back "Don't come lookin' for me. If I see any of you again I'll blow your heads off. Nothing personal."

The officers were still too stunned to stop him. But then he was just a crippled drunk that just wanted to be left alone. How dangerous could he be?

***

Bandou found it fortuitous he had run into that band of idiots. It took no effort at all to plant the bug on the biggest idiot's collar when he pretended to drunkenly stumble. Now he was listening in on a meeting with L himself. The mercenary almost pitied the guy for having to work with such morons. If he was in L's place he would shoot them all and find better help. Come to think of it why the hell did L need these guys in the first place? They were probably Kira bait. Yeah, that was probably it.

Going by the officer's shocked reactions L apparently wasn't what they were expecting. Bandou almost regretted that his bug was audio only because that certainly had peaked his curiosity. What could make the officers react that way? Was he horrifically scarred or something? Or did he have... horns on his head? Overall it was inconsequential—it wasn't L he was interested in. It was his target…

"The agents I had investigating the police all ended up dead…" The strange voice that was evidently that of L told his team and, unknowingly, his eavesdropper.

"Wait, you had agents investigating the police!" one of the idiot cops shouted with indignation.

"Information has been leaking to Kira," L blandly replied. "And a shadowy agency has commandeered your investigation. You can see why I was concerned."

"Does this mean we're suspects in our own investigation?"

"I trust all of you; otherwise I would have never agreed to meet with you. But like I was saying, agents, _not criminals, but officers of the law_ are dead and it is Kira's doing."

Bandou was impressed. This L-guy sure was a good manipulator. He had all the idiot cops eating from his hand…

L waited out the predictable angry responses of the police before continuing. "Obviously these are different from Kira's earlier victims…"

"Wait, how can you be so sure it was Kira and not this… Facility?" asked Major Idiot Cop, the one Bandou had bugged.

"If your source is to be believed then if it was this Facility that found my agents then they would have had them summarily executed and then covered up their deaths. They would dispose of the bodies. They wouldn't leave them out for us to find like this. However these victims are not like Kira's normal victims. They didn't die of heart attacks. They were ripped apart."

The sound of retching could be heard over the transceiver as the rookie lost his lunch. The others made disgusted noises and the hushed whisper of the one that Bandou had identified as the Chief came through, whispering "that monster!" It must have been particularly gruesome.

"I believe Kira is sending us a message," L told them.

"Er… what's the message?" asked another idiot cop.

There was the sound of someone chewing loudly followed by L replying to the idiot. "Isn't it obvious? 'Back off.'"

Lots of surprised gasps could be heard over his transceivers. Bandou rolled his eyes.

"However in this move Kira left us a clue to his…" There was a great many clearing of throats and L amended "or her identity. Kira tried to wipe all of the agents out at once; the times of death are very close for all of them. However, my coroner can confirm that Raye Penber was the first to die… by about a minute. So we can narrow our search down to the two households Raye Penber was investigating—Deputy Director Kitamura and Superintendent Yagami and their families…"

***

Bandou's boots tracked in the blood that was pooling on the kitchen tiles. Like he cared, it wasn't his kitchen. The mercenary knew from listening that they hadn't put the cameras in yet so he had taken the opportunity to strike. He didn't particularly care but if by some miracle he did survive his next battle with a Diclonius he would rather not have to live with a bounty on his head and L breathing down his neck if he could help it.

Bandou gave an irritated sigh and lit up a cigarette. His search of the Kitamura family had proved fruitless. A damn shame. Bandou stepped over the broken bodies of the Kitamura girls. They had offered no resistance. That just left Sayu Yagami...


	3. Guardian Devil

As Sayu Yagami walked home from school she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. Maybe it was just paranoia brought on by her father and brother constantly warning her to watch out for weirdos but she couldn't shake the feeling of a presence, and of eyes on the back of her neck. She began to walk more briskly, and by the time she turned the corner she had broken into a run, slamming right into a shadowy figure that stood looming in the alleyway. She shrunk away until she recognized the voice...

"Sayu! Are you alright?"

"Ow!" Sayu whined as she picked herself off the concrete. "Dammit, Light! You scared me!" Sayu breathed and then punched him weakly in the chest.

Light had the good grace to look sheepish. "Sorry."

"Don't you have school today?"

"I'm playing hooky. Shh, don't tell dad." Light whispered conspiratorially.

"Wha-?" Sayu looked scandalized. "Shame on you onii-san! Aren't you supposed to be setting an example?"

"Yeah, sorry. I've been feeling kind of stressed out lately. I know you've been studying really hard too. I figured we could both really use a break… so I got us this."

Sayu squealed with joy, moral complaint forgotten, when Light held up two tickets to a Hideki Ryuuga concert.

"Oh but, Light. They're so expensive!"

Light ruffled her hair. "Don't worry about it. A friend of mine had them but he couldn't go. I asked nicely and he gave them to me." Light didn't like lying to his little sister but that was mostly true. Just replace "friend" with "criminal scumbag" and "ask nicely" with "picked them off his bloody corpse."

A concert was ideal. It was a nice crowded place with lots of security where even crazies like the guy who killed the Kitamuras would think twice before opening fire...

When Light hacked into the police files showing the Kitamura house, Light recognized the work of the Facility. That meant the investigation was closer than he thought and if they knew that Kira was a Diclonius chances are they'd assume the suspect was female—meaning they'd target his little sister. Even though they weren't bound by blood Sayu was his sister and he could not let that happen. Though it was all based on a lie the Yagami family was kind to him and treated him like a human being, even though he was adopted (and even though he was a monster—a fact they could never know) they treated him like their own son, and for that he was grateful. Light knew in his heart of hearts that even if he had to purge all other human filth from the face of this world the Yagamis would be spared.

Light kept his hand protectively on his sister's back as they turned down a crowded street until the metal ball rolled to a stop at their feet.

Sayu yelped as they were suddenly flying backwards.

From a nearby window Bandou watched as the teens pulled themselves off the pavement, miraculously unharmed. He had seen everything through his bionic eyes—how they were propelled backwards BEFORE the bomb went off. Only a Diclonius was capable of such a feat. This wouldn't be like with the Kitamuras. He'd hit the jackpot.

Light snarled. It looked like they would bring innocents into the fray.

_Of course, I should have known. The Facility can cover anything up! They don't care about collateral! Those BASTARDS!_

"Onii-san, what happened? Onii~!"

_"Oni! Oni! Oni!"_

"SHUT UP!" Light roared; his eyes were wide and murderous. "I'm not an Oni!" _I'm not a demon! I'M A GOD!_

"Light, you're scaring me!" Sayu shrunk away. At the last moment Light recovered himself and stopped his grasping, phantom hands from ripping his little sister to shreds.

_"Shit! Oh shit! Oh SHIT!" I almost… I could have… No, no time! They're still out there! They're watching us right now!_

"Light?" Sayu began but then a bullet whizzed right by her ear. "Someone's shooting at us!"

"C'mon!" Light grabbed his sister by the wrist, pulling her along. They broke out into a flat run, trying to ditch their pursuer in a maze of alleyways. They turned a corner and at the last moment, Light spotted the trap. He grabbed his sister protectively and using his vectors launched them both into the air, evading another fireball.

Sayu was confused. Her ears were ringing and when she opened her eyes that had been squeezed shut it was almost like they were… flying?

"Onii…" Sayu whispered when they landed on the roof of a building.

Light spotted the laser dot of a sniper and pushed himself and his sister down, ducking behind the rooftop air ventilation system. He doubted it would actually stop a bullet but at least they weren't out in the open. When their pursuer fired Light brought up his vectors in a protective shell around them, deflecting the high caliber bullets. Even from so far away it was one hell of a kick. Light struggled not to give any ground. Light worked to ignore his sister's screaming and to concentrate on keeping his "shield" up as he used finer telekinetic manipulation to defuse the alarm and open the roof-top access door.

"Sayu, I need you to keep running, use that door, find a phone, call dad!"

"W-what about you?"

"I'll be right behind you, I promise, but you need to go, NOW!"

Sayu stood there stupidly, gaping at her brother as if he were some sort of freak. It was too much.

"GO!" Light roared. _Please! Go before I kill you too!_

Sayu ran and Light covered her escape deflecting bullets.

 _"HEY! ASSHOLE!"_ Light screamed at the man shooting at them. He dramatically ripped off his brown wig of hair, letting it fall onto the rooftop on which he stood, revealing his blood red hair and horns.

 _"IT'S ME, YOU FUCKING IDIOT! I'M THE ONE YOU WANT!"_ The man kept shooting so Light put his hands up in a placating gesture. _"I'M NOT RESISTING! I SURRENDER! LET'S JUST TALK ABOUT THIS!"_

Light let the tranquilizer dart whiz by his defenses. It lodged in his neck. Light slumped to the ground and waited, listening to the soothing sounds of the sea as his predator approached. The high-rise building he had scaled was overlooking the bay—it was a beautiful place to die, really. Not that he wanted to die. Not really. After all he had so much more work to do as Kira...

Bandou's boots stopped just short of his face.

The mercenary sneered. "Whatever you're planning; it won't work."

"No plans, no tricks."

Bandou struck him hard across the face.

"You really are just going to surrender quietly? How pathetic!"

Light offered no resistance as the mercenary beat him.

"It truly is a shame. It gives me such pleasure hunting animals like you."

"I know," Light slurred. "'S no point fighting someone like you. You'd just enjoy it…"

"Oh I see what's going on here, would you look at that, your lil' sister got away!" The mercenary realized in a flash of insight. "So noble, so self-sacrificing," he mocked. "Does it help you pretend you're not a monster? It's useless, you know. I'll find her later. I can't leave any loose ends—you understand."

"Unfortunately, yes." In a flurry Light lashed out with his vectors. "Hmm… That looked like it hurt." Light commented as he slammed Bandou against the wall. "I'd apologize, but then I'd be lying." Light said in a suddenly clear tone of voice and Bandou realized, too late, that his target was faking the extent of the drug's effects.

"No… there's no way! That's impossible!" With that dosage the Diclonius shouldn't be able to access let alone control it's vectors!

"You don't get it. I'm not like the others. Did you really think I could do what I do without having _fully mastered_ my powers?" Light smiled sickly. "I am Kira. I am God!"

Bandou laughed. "You're a delusional freak! That's what you are!"

Light sneered down at Bandou. There was no point arguing with this soon-to-be-dead pathetic worm.

"Hmmm... you know; if I was in your position I would have at least researched my prey." Light said conversationally as he squeezed the man's arms lightly with his vectors, just to give him a taste of his power.

"No, _not again!_ " Bandou screeched as he felt the pressure being applied to his artificial limbs.

"What? Rip you apart? I could, you know, but that's just so _barbaric._ I prefer heart attacks. No mess, no fuss. Don't you?"

Bandou couldn't answer seeing as he was already seizing. Light giggled as the man squirmed and died… until Bandou, still seizing brought up his broken, flailing arm, a gun in hand, and took aim at Light's head. The wannabe God just had time for a look of surprise and fear to grace his face as he could hear the screeching metal and the whir of the servos inside and then he realized, too late, that his opponent wasn't normal either.

Light got his vectors up but it wasn't fast enough, not at point blank range. The diclonius staggered backwards and fell off the edge of the building.


	4. Lawliet

The chill and briny wind whipped through his raven hair, his baggy clothes fluttered against his skin where the detective crouched, brooding atop a bike rack. L knew he shouldn't have been out but he doubted at this point it would make a difference. Before they had been working under the assumption that Kira couldn't kill without a name but the Lind L. Tailor incident suggested that Kira's powers were even greater than they had expected—he could just murder anyone, anywhere, at any time. If Kira could find and kill him at anytime, L doubted it would make a lick of difference if it was in a hotel room or on the beach and he had missed watching the waves. It was something he enjoyed and L indulged in the things he liked.

_Kira…_

The detective nibbled at his thumb as he huddled against the cold. He was still no closer to finding the mass murderer and L was sure his scant sleep suffered for it—since taking this case his dreams had been even more troubled than usual…

L watched; hypnotized by the flow of the waves that he startled when another was suddenly there with him on the empty beach.

"Ryuuzaki. I missed you." L startled as Naomi Misora was suddenly there, hugging him.

"How did you find me?" Naomi's lips quirked upwards. "You know I always find you." She said as she buried her face in his greasy hair. L scowled. While he enjoyed unnerving others by getting up in their personal space he didn't care much for having his OWN personal space invaded. He also didn't particularly like the way Naomi was acting so familiarly around him. After all they were only coworkers and…

"How's Raye?" L blurted out.

Naomi abruptly turned away. "Don't you remember? He's dead!"

L suddenly became very interested in his toes. He knew he was missing some things from the time he was sick. This must have been one of them. "I'm sorry."

Naomi remained silent.

"I shouldn't have…"

"Say, what's that?" Naomi Misora pointed out across the waves.

L looked up; alarmed that he had somehow missed seeing him on his own—there wading waist-deep in the waves was an attractive young man with striking blood-red hair.

No, not wading, gracelessly limping towards the shore; looked scared and confused.

L could see he was injured, blood poured down from a wound on his forehead, mingling with the tears that fell freely from his eyes. The detective openly stared as he thought aloud. _"What happened to you?"_

L found he couldn't stop staring when he realized the other was completely naked.

He tried to stop, he really did. The detective could think of a few dozen horrible things that could have happened to the teen to reduce him to this state right off the bat. The detective knew he came off as creepy to most people and it wouldn't do to further traumatize someone who could very well be a rape victim.

"Ryuuzaki, what is it?" Misora asked.

Just then the teen noticed the detective and a smidgeon of awareness seemed to return to his eyes. L felt a slight chill go down his spine at how the teen visibly perked up when he set eyes on him. Few people were happy to see him and if they were… it was rarely a good sign.

"Hey! Are you alright?" The detective asked. Okay, that was an obviously dumb question. But what WAS the appropriate response for this sort of situation?

The teen comically cocked his head to the side and mewled out a soft "Ryu?"

As L cautiously approached the wounded teen something strange caught his eye—up close he noticed the small, bone-white horns that protruded from the younger man's scalp, highly visible against that shock of violently red hair. L stared and stared. He knew he should be concentrating on the teen's injuries but… but the detective _lived_ to discover things that were interesting and out of the ordinary and this definitely fell into that category. Without thinking about it L poked at the oddity. The teen rapidly shrunk away, and in his haste to get away tripped on his own feet and fell backwards onto the beach.

"Ryu!" He barked indignantly.

L flinched at the very angry tone. "Sorry."

The teen made a miffed noise and rubbed his naked ass. The detective crouched down next to him.

"I bet you get that a lot."

The teen looked away and grunted a "Ryuuu" of affirmation.

"Can you tell me what happened?" L again asked the traumatized teen gently.

"Ryu!" the teen grumbled in annoyance.

L crept closer, still ever-staring, as if he expected that if he just examined the teen close enough he would somehow get the answers. "Is that all you can say?"

"Ryuuuu!" the teen said again in great frustration.

 _He has a head injury..._ It seemed the teen could understand him but he couldn't communicate. The detective could only imagine how frustrating that would be. L hoped it wasn't permanent. He wanted answers.

When the teen saw that the message wasn't getting across he tried pantomiming, pointing one finger at his head in the shape of a gun and drawing it back with a loud "Ryu Ry-RANG!"

"You were shot in the head?" the detective asked incredulously. Though the teen was bleeding from the scalp (that would no doubt require stitches) the injury seemed much too minor to suggest that… Well, he was up, he was walking around. Alright, he wasn't exactly _talking._ Still, that story felt believable to L despite the physical evidence to the contrary.

When the other guessed correctly what he was trying to say the teen clasped his hands in delight and gave a very enthusiastic "Ryu!"

 _No doubt he's happy about being able to communicate, not about being shot in the head,_ L mused.

"You know, you're lucky to be alive," L said as he tied a makeshift bandage around the boy's head, tying it off in such a way so that it would also hide his horns. It was better to not draw attention to themselves… Just then Naomi pointed out they were getting odd looks from some newcomers on the beach.

"Er… here." L slipped his baggy white sweater over the boy's head… it just barely covered everything up but it would have to do for now. The teen seemed to like that—he snuggled into the sweater (still warmed by the detective's body heat) and put his nose into the fabric and breathed in deeply. The detective began to wonder if he needed to change brands of antiperspirants when the teen smiled at him beatifically.

"Ryuuu!" He cooed. L sighed. He supposed he could part with the sweater—he had a whole closet full of them.

"You're a strange one, aren't you?" L deadpanned. It was all very queer on so many levels—L noticed that the horned boy had yet to acknowledge Naomi Misora's existence. It was as if L had become his entire world...

L felt the hairs prick up on the back of his neck as he soon realized that both Naomi and the teen were staring at him hungrily. L didn't know how attractive he could be to others. He worked out regularly practicing the Capoeira that Misora had taught him and in taking off his sweater he had put his perfect six-pack on display. The teen especially seemed in awe of his naked chest and touched it without hesitation.

"H-hey!" L stammered out in alarm.

"Ryu?" the young man mewed cutely. The red-head was looking at him with such utter adoration that if L didn't know better he would say the teen was being… flirtatious. Just then the teen moved his hand seductively up and down his chest. Okay, maybe he _WAS_ being flirtatious…

"Ryu?" the teen asked softly, still looking at L with bedroom eyes.

_He has a head injury. He has impaired impulse control. He doesn't really know what he's doing..._

L gave a small cry of alarm and tried to get away when the teen put his hand down his pants. The teen crawled over him on hands and knees, and tried to bury his face in his lap. L lashed out with a kick and hurriedly scurried away.

"No!" the detective said sharply.

"Ryuuuuu~" the boy gave an anguished cry.

L shuddered in fear. As much as the boy was a fascinating mystery this kind of interest in him was one of the few things the detective feared. Interest turned into an attachments, which were dangerous enough in his line of work, but in the worst case it turned into an obsession and then his admirer would try to get more intimate with him… with knives and strawberry jam. L's every instinct was screaming to stay away from this strange, beautiful teen—who was clearly already in the obsession phase.

"What are you doing?" Naomi demanded as L began to walk away, fishing his cell phone from his pocket.

"I'm calling an ambulance. They'll take him to a hospital."

"You can't just leave him here!"

"I shouldn't get involved…"

The teen seemed distraught by his words. Even if he couldn't communicate he definitely had a level of understanding. "Ryuuu!" The teen kept whining at him as L walked away. "Ryuuu! Ryuuu! Rya.. Ra… La… La… lau… La… li? Lali? _LALI!_ "

L turned around sharply.

The boy's face was comically scrunched up in concentration as he tried to make the correct syllables come out. "Law… li… et?"

Frantically, L grabbed the teen by the shoulders. "How did you—?" L dropped his voice and in a low tone, through gritted teeth demanded "How did you know that name?"

"Ryu?" the boy chirped innocently. That question was beyond him at the moment but Light liked how Lawliet had grabbed him forcefully and was leaning in close. Light closed the distance and kissed him softly on the lips.

"Ryu!" the teen yelped indignantly as L kicked him again.

"Don't play games! Answer me!" L shouted. _If my identity is compromised..._

The boy shrunk away in fright of the detective's rage.

"Ryuuzaki, he _can't_ answer you, he can barely speak!" Naomi shouted at him.

"He just did! He said... he said…!"

"What?"

L clenched his fist and looked away. "Nothing."

"Ryuuuuuu~?"

L glanced over in exasperation at the teen. Before the horned boy was a mere curiosity but now he couldn't afford to let him out of his sight.

"Look, can you understand me?"

The teen nodded. "Ryu!"

"Don't say that word again, alright?" L said gently.

The teen nodded again and said "Ryu!" like it was a solemn vow.

"Well… I guess you'd better come with me."

"Ryuuuu!" the teen shouted ecstatically, tackling the detective again.

"Okay then..." L never thought _he,_ of all people, would be put in the position where he would have to teach another about the concept of personal boundaries. The detective tried to at least keep the horny teen at arm's length.

Light didn't know what he did wrong but he nuzzled at his favorite person's feet in contrition and again tried to bury his face in his lap, looking up at the older man entreatingly.

"Ryu?" He asked pawing at the detective through his jeans.

"Stop it!" L hissed.

"Ryuuu!" The teen put on another pantomime show, this time putting his fingers in his mouth and bobbing his head, making it crystal clear what he wanted to do. L suppressed a groan—that was so very hot. L stared at the half-naked teen in a different way. Whatever happened to him it had left him with absolutely no shame and no inhibitions. That idea was rather attractive to the eccentric detective who was rather fond of doing "strange things."

L still _knew_ getting involved with the red-head was definitely a bad idea but L was the first to admit that he was only human.

Meanwhile, the teen took the detective's pleasured sound as consent and again tried to get into his pants.

"No!"

"Ryuuuuuuu~!" the teen moaned in disappointment.

"Not _here._ Not _right now._ " L amended.

The younger man chirped happily and glomped him again.

"Ryuuzaki!" Naomi scolded him.

"He's cognizant. He can definitely understand what he's doing... But… before this goes any further I think I should get his head examined."


End file.
